As a child, Tater Tot Casserole was a favorite. Make a casserole and throw in some tater tots and it always seemed to taste better. As a health-conscious adult who knows the importance of reading food ingredient labels, and who has multiple food sensitivities, I decided to give this recipe a makeover to make it healthier for my family and allergy-friendly for me.
Why, you might ask? Lets take a look at the ingredients in the Tater Tots, as well as the Condensed Cream of Mushroom soup, both highly processed foods.
Tater Tots: The label of a popular brand includes Potatoes, Vegetable Oil (sunflower, cottonseed, soybean, and/or canola), Salt, Yellow Corn Flour, Onions, Dextrose, Disodium Dihydrogen Pyrophosphate, and Natural Flavoring.
Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup: The “healthy” version of this popular brand’s cream of mushroom soup includes Water, Mushrooms, Modified Food Starch, Wheat Flour, Contains Less Than 2% Of: Vegetable Oil (Corn, Cottonseed, Canola, And/or Soybean), Cream (Milk), Sugar, Salt, Potassium Chloride, Flavoring, Soy Protein Concentrate, Calcium Carbonate, Yeast Extract, Disodium Guanylate, Disodium Inosinate, Lactic Acid, Mixed Triglycerides, Spice, Dehydrated Mushrooms, Garlic Extract.
For the purposes of this post, I’m not going to get into the details of each and every ingredient. You can see, however, that both contain a lot of ingredients, many of which the average person can’t even pronounce! The fewer the minimally processed ingredients, that I can pronounce, the better. In most cases, I prefer an unprocessed whole food that grew on a plant, grazed in a pasture or swam in an ocean. But this is a recipe makeover after all.
The biggest difference you’ll find is that rather than using traditional tater tots, I use plain, diced frozen potatoes. I like Mr Dell’s brand. Potatoes is the only ingredient. The other major difference is that the cream of mushroom soup is homemade, and it is de-lish. You can find the recipe for the homemade, Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup here.
For those in my family who aren’t dairy-free, I put cheddar cheese on top of half the casserole. They can’t even tell that I used gluten-free flour and non-dairy milk in the soup, though! Of course, you can modify the recipe to use wheat flour and regular milk, if you choose.
This recipe is gluten, dairy, soy, corn, and MSG free. It’s free of foods that are often genetically modified (corn, soy, vegetable oils). There are no artificial flavors, colors, or other ingredients. It may take a little longer to prepare because the soup is homemade and there’s a little prep with the potatoes, but I guarantee it will be worth it. This recipe is kid-tested and a family favorite. Plan ahead for your prep time, or make the soup in advance, and enjoy!
Ingredients
- 1 batch of Homemade Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup
- 1 pound of lean, ground, grass-fed beef
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 4 1/2 cups Mr. Dell's Natural, Diced Hashbrowns
- 4 T olive oil
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/4 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 cup Daiya, dairy-free cheese, optional (or shredded cheddar, if you choose)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Brown the ground beef and minced garlic in a fry pan.
- Drain the ground beef and add the cream of mushroom soup. Mix well.
- Spread the beef mixture in a 2 quart baking dish. I use a glass dish.
- In a separate fry pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat, and add the diced potatoes.
- As the potatoes brown, add the sea salt, paprika, and garlic powder.
- Turn the potatoes over and mix with the seasonings.
- The potatoes do not need to be cooked all the way through, just browned slightly.
- Spread the potatoes on top of the beef mixture in the baking dish.
- Add the cheddar or dairy-free cheese to the top of the casserole, if desired.
- Bake in the oven for 20 minutes. (Always be sure to check your dish five minutes early. You may need to bake more or less than the stated time, depending on your oven.)
Julie Smith is a certified Life Coach, Leadership Coach and Health Coach. She empowers others to create calm and clarity through work and life transitions. Together, they build confidence, create postive change, and greater well-being so they can lead themselves and the organizations and families they serve. Her clients include purpose-driven professionals, leaders and organizations. 
